39 Gangster Disciples Indicted

Thirty-nine people identified by federal authorities as members of the Gangster Disciples street gang were under indictment Thursday, charged along with their imprisoned "chairman," Larry Hoover, with conspiring over a 25-year period to market illicit drugs in the Chicago area.

The gang is regarded by police as the largest and most violent in Chicago and the Midwest. Members range from teens to men of middle-age.

A Chicago police officer who allegedly funneled information to the gang was among those charged in three separate indictments. The action by a federal grand jury followed a joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Chicago police, dating from 1990, authorities said.

Hoover, 44, already serving a term for murder, was whisked from his cell in a Downstate prison before dawn Thursday and flown to Chicago in a government airplane for his arraignment on the charges.

His arrival amid tight security at Meigs Field on the lakefront came as 250 federal agents and Chicago police officers moved in teams on the South Side seeking to arrest a total of 35 defendants.

Those sought represent much of the hierarchy of the gang, or "G.D.s" as they are known on the street, authorities said. Three other suspects, like Hoover, are already in custody on unrelated charges.

By midday, at least 22 of the suspects were in custody, according to Chicago regional DEA chief James A. Morgan. They included the gang's "co-chairman," Gregory Shell, 37, and several reputed lieutenants, among them Darryl Johnson, 31; Andrew Howard, 48; Jeffrey Hatcher, 41; Adrian Bradd, 39; Vincent Martin, 38; and Steven Pink, 30.

The charged officer, identified as Sonia Irwin, 41, a former gang crimes investigator, remained at large and was being sought.

The indictments are based largely on evidence gleaned over a five-year period with the use of court-approved wiretaps. They charge that Hoover and others, whom he allegedly directed from prison, extorted protection money from small drug dealers while operating their own cocaine and heroin distribution business, all since 1970 in Chicago.

Sources familiar with the investigation credited the use of wiretaps for piercing the gang's otherwise insulated veneer. Such monitoring targeted the phones of gang members in Chicago as well as prison phones made available as a privilege for incarcerated gang members.

Arrest teams led by DEA agents under the supervision of Morgan and police officials began taking suspects into custody before dawn. The teams seized two dozen guns and six vehicles believed used to transport drugs.

Those arrested were taken to the Dirksen Federal Building to be photographed and fingerprinted.

The movement of Hoover to Chicago from a state prison near Dixon, Ill., began abruptly shortly after 4 a.m. That is when prison guards and DEA agents roused him in his cell and escorted him in handcuffs to a nearby airport.

From there he was put aboard a twin-engine plane piloted by federal agents for the flight to Meigs.

The early morning flight was designed to minimize any risks to Hoover and other inmates at the prison, including gang members, whom officials say he controls.

Once in Chicago Hoover was taken in a van directly to the Dirksen Building, less than two miles away, to await a court appearance.

Formerly known as Operation X, the investigation that targeted Hoover's alleged drug cartel initially was based in an obscure federal office building on South Clark Street. There, undercover agents and police officers could come and go in secrecy, their identities and mission intact.

Later, as new evidence of the charged drug sales network was developed, the project was returned to DEA headquarters in the Dirksen Building and given a new name, Operation Headache.